Health update

Hi everyone,

We haven't had the continued improvement that we had expected and hoped for with the new pacemaker. Maybe there has even been a regression. We went back to the cardiologist's office on the 16th to have the bandages removed and the device checked. We gave Donna, the EP nurse, the lowdown on how John has been feeling and that he spent the morning of the 8th in the Emergency Room of Swedish hospital with weight gain and water in his lungs again. The same old congestive heart failure that has been rearing it's ugly head lately. Like happened on the cruise ship, John couldn't sleep laying down and they gave him IV diuretics and monitored him until he eliminated enough of the water (six pounds) and the lungs were clear. Since then we had another occurrence of water in the lungs, but John spent that night sitting in his chair, trying to sleep and then taking extra diuretics in the morning.

Based on all of our information, Donna made an adjustment to the settings of the pacemaker and she called Dr B (Tuesday is surgery day for him) and they decided to prescribe an additional medication. Dr B also indicated that he thought the UW should start seriously looking to proceed toward transplant and that he would write a letter to that effect.

We think he must have written the letter, because on Friday there was a message on our phone recorder from the UW Heart transplant center letting us know that we were scheduled for some studies to proceed with the evaluation for a possible heart transplantation. So, on Monday the 29th, we will have some vascular studies, ultrasounds of the arteries of the legs and upper body as well as some pulmonary studies.

From our 'pre-transplant' support group, we know that the UW does these tests to make sure that the rest of the body is in good enough shape to not only survive the operation, but to be sure that the donor heart is not wasted on a body that is not in good condition in all areas but the heart.

On a daily basis, we have had to change eating habits. John is really sensitive now to the amount of sodium that he eats, which causes weight gain and water in the lungs. The heart is just not strong enough to 'mobilize' fluids adequately. We now know where his weight needs to be and we monitor it closely. This is unusual, because until recently, John has been able to have an occasional 'treat night' where what he ate didn't have negative repercussions. But, it's a small price to pay for what we receive from it.

We have many questions for the UW and will ask them on the 29th. There will be more tests to follow, but we will post an update after the visit on the 29th.

John and Co